Saturday, October 20, 2012

Baby Black Bear

Minnesota has a healthy population of black bears. The MN DNR estimates about 20,000 black bears in the state mainly in the northeastern third of the state. The mating season for black bear is from May to July however the female black bear will not immediately become pregnant after copulation. She will hold the fertilized egg until around November. If she is healthy she will become pregnant and the cubs will be born in the den while she hibernates, usually January. If she is not healthy the egg is reabsorbed and the pregnancy terminated. I guess you can say that bears are pro choice. This youngster emerged from the den with his mom. If danger is nearby the first instinct of the cubs is to climb a tree. He will stay with his mom through out the rest of the year and hibernate with her the next winter. The following May before mom comes into estrus she will chase the cub away and make it known that it is time for it to be on its own.

We have at least five different black bears that have been regulars on our trail cameras on our property this year. No small cubs, though. One year when I was a kid, we had a trio of cubs in a tree very close to our house. They waited there until their mother came back for them. We were always taught to beware the mother bear. :)We've never seen more black bears than our trips to northern Ontario, though. Once we had one nearly jump in our car window! I posted on it here: http://ourfunwithfive.blogspot.com/2011/06/blue-lake-rocky-shore-canada-2011.html